Photo courtesy od Debbie Hooper.
Ezita Rodriguez/Contributing Writer
America’s foremost beach expert lives right here in South Florida.
The media knows him at Dr. Beach, but at the University, he is known as professor Stephen Leatherman.
Leatherman, who is professor and director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at the University, has become famous for this coastal research which he uses to rate the top 10 beaches in the country.
Professor Stephen Leatherman, the name he is known for on campus, is an expert in Environmental Coastal Sciences with 40 years of teaching experience.
For many years his research has led him to give the keynote address at international conferences and workshops on beach erosion, rip currents, and storm impacts.
Currently, on his schedule are trips to Costa Rica, Mexico and South Korea for summer research and conferences.
Leatherman said he is contacted every year by the Associated Press, Microsoft, Yahoo and many other newspapers, magazines, and TV stations.
And they are always after the same thing—Dr. Beach’s Top 10 list.
“Americans seem to have a love affair with beaches,” he said.
[alert type=”blue”]Dr. Beach’s top Beach Hazards:
Rip Currents
Sunburn (Skin Cancer)
Lightning
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The list has been released every Memorial Day Weekend since 1991. It takes a full year to create, and each beach takes about a full day to evaluate.
Leatherman has visited about 650 public beaches in the U.S. alone for his research.
The top 10 list is created after undergoing an evaluation that consists of 50 criteria and he rates all 50 items from numbers 1 through five.
Among the criteria are litter, sand texture, and water turbidity.
“I check for underwater holes, or rocks with my polarized sunglasses,” he said.
Leatherman said he takes certain equipment with him to rate the beaches.
He uses a laser range finder which helps him measure the width of the beach, and a sand sieve set is used to determine the size of the grains of sand, the finer the better.
He also uses dye balls which color the water in order to vividly check for rip currents.
Leatherman released his top 10 list for 2014 the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.
The top beach this year was Duke Kahanamoku Beach, in Hawaii. His list also includes four beaches in Florida.
[alert type=”blue”]Two courses now offered with Leatherman for 2014-2015:
Fall: A Coastal Hazard Class discussing hurricanes, beach erosion, rip Currents, and tsunamis.
Spring: A Changing Coastlines class focusing on beach erosion, among other topics.
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Cape Florida State Park’s beach in Key Biscayne made number 7 on the list this year. The beach is located less than an hour away from the Modesto A. Maidique Campus.
Leatherman enjoys the beach at Cape Florida State Park for its calm warm water and fun activities including hiking, cycling, fishing and many others.
The known landmark at the beach is the historic lighthouse which many refer to as “el farito,” the little lighthouse in Spanish.
The downside of the Cape Florida State Park beach, according to Leatherman, was the amount of seaweed laying around.
“They get negatives for that one,” he said.“I have never found a perfect beach, but I have found a lot of great ones.”
[alert type=”blue”]DID YOU KNOW?
According to Leatherman, Miami’s sand is composed mostly of ground up coral.
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Leatherman said he has loved science since a young age.
“I loved rock collecting or collecting things that had to do with nature, I even collected bees,” he said.
With the media attention he gets for this list, one of his goals is to educate the public for safety reasons.
“Rip currents are such a big issue,” he said. “I’m trying to reduce the number of people who drown because of this, it really is tragic.”
-news@fiusm.com
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